Computing-machine.



I. L! LANIER.

COMPUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. :3. i918.

1,292,487. 7 Patented Jan. 28,1919.

as r

' i A 57 425m? ATTORNEY,

I B 1 55 59 M IVEY LEE LANIER, OF HICKORY, NORTH CAROLINA comrurme-mcnmn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an.'28, 1919.

Application filed April 13, 1918, Serial No. 228,319.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ivar L. Lemsma citizen of the'United States, and resident of Hickory, in the county of Catawba and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Computing-Machines, of .which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to computing machines, and aims to provide a novel and improved appliance of that character for use in adding and subtracting numbers or making other computations, the machine being extremely simple in construction and composed of but com aratively "few parts and being practical, efli cient and convenient in use.

The invention has for its object the provision of a computing machine embodying wheels or equivalent members arranged to be conveniently moved by a stylus or the fingers of the operator for computing totals or other result With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will be apparent as the invention is better understood, the invention resides in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes can be made within the scop'eof what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figurel is an elevation of the machine,

portions being broken away and shown in.

section.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2--2 I of Fig. 1. I

for rota The casing which houses the working parts comprises a bottom 10, ends 11, sup

ported thereby, which may be cast, and a sheet metal hood 12 forming the sides and top and fitted on the ends 11 and bottom 10 and secured thereto by screws 13 or the like. Disposed lon 'tudinally within. the casing is an axle or s aft 14 which is mounted for sliding and rotary movements in the ends 11, and one end of said shaft has a knob 14: to manipulate said shaft in clearing the ma chine. On this shaft 14 there is mounted movement a set of .wheels 15 arranged side by side longitudinally within the casing, and any sultable number of wheels can be usedaccording to the capacity of the machine. The hood 13 and ends 11 are preferably of a shape to conform to said wheels, and the hood is of parti-cylindrical form and lies close to the opposite sides and top of the set of wheels 15.

The wheels 15 are arranged to be rotated by the fingers of the operator, and therefore constitute not only parts of the computing mechanism or gearing, but also provide the manually operated actuating members. For this purpose, the periphery or circumference of each wheel 15 is provided with an annular series of finger notches 16 extending transversely of the circumference and concaved reversely to the curvature of the circumference, as seen in Fig. 2. The

above the respective wheels 15, whereby the fingers can be inserted through said slots to engage the notches of the wheels for rotating them one way or the other. The slots 17 are of a width to accommodate the fingers nicely, and to only expose the notched portions of the wheels, andsaid slots are of the proper length or arcs, according to the diameter of the wheels 15 and number of sets of notches and numerals thereon, so that each wheel cannot be advanced more than 9 notches or steps at a single stroke of the finger in the respective slot. A set of index numerals 18 is printed or otherwise provided on the hood 12 adjacent to and at one side of each slot 17, and said numerals run from 1 to 9 from the lowerto the upper ends of the slots, whereby to number the nine notches of eachwheel that are exposed through the respective slot. Said numerals are therefore at the sides of the exposed notches, to facilitate the advancement of the wheels the desired number of steps. The housing 12 has apertures or openings 19 for exposing the digits or numerals 20 of the wheels 15, and said apertures are preferably located slightly below the lower ends of the slots 17 and at one side thereof. The indicating numerals 20 of the wheels 15 are printed or otherwise provided on the peripheries or circumfercnces' of the wheels at one side of the notches 16, and said wheels preferably have smooth portions for said numerals at the sides of the notches. The numerals 20 run from 0 to 9, and each wheel 15 has several sets of nu- -merals 20 in succession or sequence, there on each wheel and therefore forty notches 16, although the notches and numerals can vary in multiples of ten. By using several sets of numerals 20 on each wheel, the wheel need only be advanced through an arc to make from one to nine steps and with the arrangement shown, the wheels turn through slightly less than a quarter of a circle to make nine steps. This renders it con venient to advance the wheels by the motion or movement of the fingers in the slots 17. The hood 12 covers the numerals 20, excepting those which are exposed through the apertures 19 to indicate the result of the computation. The numerals 20 run in the same direction as the numerals 18, and are advanced in succession behind the apertures 19 when the wheels 15- are rotated in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2. It is preferable to provide washers 21 on the shaft 14 between the hubs of the wheels 15, to reduce friction between them.

The shaft 14 serves both as a support or axle for the wheels and as a means for clearing the machine. Thus, each wheel 15 is provided at one side with a recess 22 in its hub, and with a lug 23 Within the recess and spaced from the mouth thereof, and pins 24 are'engaged through the shaft 14 and located within the recesses 22. By the provisionfof such means, the lugs 23 can readily move past the pins 24 when the wheels 15 are rotated, the knob 14' being normally pulled away from the casing to remove the pins 24 from the paths of the lug 23, although said pins remain within the recesses 22. When it is desired to clear the machine, the knob 14' is pushed inwardly toward the casing, thereby sliding the shaft 14 tomove the pins 24 further into the recesses 22, and then by turning the knob and shaft, the pins 24 will engage the lugs 23 and turn the wheels 15 with the shaft, so that the zero digits of all of the whe'elsare in longitudinal alin'ement. The machine is cleared when any set of zero digits is moved behind the apertures 19,1and such clearing can be accomplished by turning the wheels through less than a circle, thereby making the operation quick and simple. After the machine is cleared, the knob 14 is again pulled to normal position, so that the pins 24 will not interfere" with the rotation of the. wheels 15.

In order to prevent-accidental rotationof the wheels 15 and to move them to proper stepped positions, leaf springs 25 or their equlvalents are employed, said springs being secured on the bottom 11 of the cas mg and projecting upwardly so that their upper free ends overlap and bear against the notched peripheral portions of the wheels 15, and said free portions of the springs have indentations or rounded lugs 26 to snap into the finger notches 16. Said springs thus hold the wheels 15 in proper stepped positions with respect to the index half step sothat the rib or ridge that wipes against the lug 26 does not pass it, the wheel will be returned, and if the wheel is advanced more than a half step so that therib or ridge is moved over or across the lug 26, the Wheel will move a full step. This arrangement avoids the possibility of the wheels 15 being moved less than full steps, as would of course be objectionable.

Means are provided, whereby when one wheel completes a turning movement through an arc of ten steps or one set of digits 20, the next wheel 15 to the left will be advanced one step or digit, so as to provide the proper interdependence of the wheels 15 representing units, tens, hundreds, etc., as will be readily understood. For this urpose, the right handsides of the wheels 15 have outstanding annular flanges or portions 27, preferably of smaller diameter than the rims of the wheels which have the finger notches, and said flanges 27 have exterior ear teeth 28 which are continuous circumerentially. These teeth 28 of the ,wheels meshwith pinions 29 mounted rotatably upon an axle 30 disposed longitudinally within the casing, preferably below the wheels-l5, and supported at its ends, by the endspf the casing. Spacers 31 or other means are provided on the axle 30 forholding the pinions 29 in proper position. The

left hand sides of the Wheels 15 are provided with outstanding annular flanges or portions 32 of about the same diameter as the flanges 27, and the flanges 32 overlap the peripheries of the pinions 29, said pinions being arranged between the wheels 15 in overlapping relation with the mating or compamon flanges 27 and 32.v Each flange 32 is provided on its periphery with spaced outstanding teeth or lugs 33, and said teeth or lugs are spaced apart through arcs corresponding with those of thesets of digits I 20. In other words, there is a tooth or in 33 for each set of digits 20, or four test or lugs 33on each wheel 15 for the four sets of digits, 20. The teeth 33 is moving past the pinions 29 engage the teeth thereof, and in this way, Whenever one of the wheels 15 completes anarc of ten steps .or one set of digits, a tooth 33 engages and turns the corresponding pinion 29, which will, in meshing with the ear teeth 28 of the next wheel 15 to the le t, rotate the last mentioned wheel one step in the same direction.

In "using the machine for adding per poses, the column of numberscan be quickly and accurately totaled. For example, supposing that the numbers 1,205 and 6,515 are to be added the operator proceeds as follows: The fourth wheel 15 from the right which represents thousands is advanced one step for the thousand of the first number, and to do this quickly and conveniently, the operator places his finger in the notch of the wheel beside the index numeral one of the respective slot 17 and the finger is then moved downwardly until it is stopped by contactingwith the lower end of said slot. The index numerals 18 thus facilitate the engagement of the fingers in the proper notches and the slots 17 limit the movements of the fingers, so that the wheels 15 a1 3 moved the desired number of steps. The operator then advances the next, wheel 15' to the right two steps for the second digit of the first number. The tens wheel 15 need not be operated and is skipped due to the zero in the ten position of the first number, and the unit wheel 15 is advanced five steps for the last digit. Thiswill show the first number 1,205 in the apertures 19, and the operationis repeated for the second number, the respective wheels 15 representing thousands, hundreds, tens and units being advanced six, five, one and five steps in succession, respectively. The unit wheel 15 having made ten steps will advance the tens wheel an additional step, so that the total 7,720 appears in the apertures 19. c To subtract, the wheels 15 are moved backward the desired number of steps. This reverses the movement of the wheels 15 and their digits 20-so that the results appearing in the apertures 19 are decreased accordingly.

The advantage of the machine resides in the. fact that the notches 16 0f the wheels 15 can be quickly and conveniently engaged through the slots 17,of the casing for moving the'wheel's 'the desired number of steps, and said wheels also serve to indicate the result, thus providing a compact and effective arrangement. It will also be noted that the machine can be cleared. in an instant, and has other advantageous features.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A computing machine embodying a casing, a slidable and rotatable shaft mounted in the casing, a set of actuating wheels mounted to rotate on said shaft and arranged side by side, said wheels each hav- .pose one digit of each wheel, each wheel being provided at opposite sides with bosses of smaller diameter than the notched por-' tion, one boss of each Wheel tinuous external gear teeth thereon and the other boss having spaced outstanding external teeth, one for each setof digits, a second shaft mounted in -the casingoutside the peripheries of said wheels, and pinions mounted for rotation on said second shaft and projecting between the peripheral portions'of said wheels to said bosses to continuously engage the gear teeth and to be intermittently engaged by said spaced teeth, the first named shaft being coopera'ble with tlfie' wheels to turn them to clear thema- 0 me.

, hand this 11 day of April, 1918.

' IVEY LEE LANIER.

having con: 

